Generally, the laminate floor is a product in which desired patterns or designs such as wood pattern, marble pattern and other shapes are precisely printed on a laminated floor (HDF) and then an anti-wear film is attached and pressed thereon.
The laminate floor uses as a base material the plate type HDF which is manufactured by collecting fibers from wood, adding a water-proof resin therein and then pressing the mixture with high pressure. A surface of the HDF is reinforced with HPL (high-pressure laminate) or LPL (low-pressure laminate). Due to the laminating, the laminate floor has high wear resistance, durability and anti-contamination property.
However, such conventional laminate floor has some advantages in the bottom layer but also has disadvantages in the surface layer. In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, a printed layer 14 and a melamine-faced overlay sheet layer are stacked on a HDF layer as the bottom layer 12, and a balance layer 18 is pressed on a lower surface of the bottom layer 12. Therefore, the laminate floor has the stronger surface than the hypocaust floor formed of water-proof plywood, but it is sensitive to moisture due to the use of the thermosetting melamine resin as the surface material.
Further, since its surface has brittle property, a user may have a freezing feeling. And if a sharp object or a heavy object is fallen thereon, the collided spot may be broken or damaged. Further, natural texture of the printed patterns or designs is very poor, compared to the hypocaust floor formed of water-proof plywood.